PML-N- supremo Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said they represented May 28, not May 9 – a reference to the nuclear tests conducted during his stint as prime minister in 1998 and the PTI’s role in the violence earlier this year. “We are of May 28; we are not of May 9,” he told reporters at the airport before his historic departure for Islamabad after spending four years in self-exile. The three-time prime minister questioned whether they could see the old Pakistan, as he referred to the current state of affairs when compared to the period before his ouster. Back then, bread was available for Rs4 with the provision of free-cost medicines, he added.

Why the matters had reached this point, he regretted. “It shouldn’t have had happened.” Nawaz reminded the reporters that he had left the matter up to Almighty Allah and returning to the country as victorious, adding that he and his daughter – Maryam Nawaz were – jailed in bogus cases. He described the country’s current top electoral body as a “fair” Election Commission, which, he added, was authorised when to call polls in the country. The Commission would hold free and fair elections, the PML-N supremo expressed the hope.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Later, Nawaz departed from Dubai in a chartered plane which will land in Islamabad in the afternoon. He will stay at the airport for an hour during which he will hold legal consultations. He will then leave for Lahore to receive a warm welcome by the party supporters. While in the plane, one of the passengers asked Nawaz he had been removed from power whenever he ensured progress and development in Pakistan.

The former prime minister smiled and replied in Urdu poetry, which can best be translated as: “Perhaps you may be regretting my removal, I have returned to the gathering with the assumption.” Nawaz is scheduled to address a public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan later in the evening. The PML-N has made arrangements for flower showers using Cessna planes to welcome former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the provincial capital of Lahore.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)